Because of Max Evans
by majiklmoon
Summary: Seventh in the POV series. Liz reflects on the influence Max Evans has had on her life.


_Because of Max Evans_

**Rating:**PG13

**Disclaimer:** Roswell belongs to first to Melinda Metz, then to Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox. I'm just borrowing them.

**Author's Note:** This is the seventh in my POV series, and it focuses on Liz, and how Max has changed her life, both for the better, and for the worse.

Because of Max Evans. Four simple words, yet they mean so much more than the average person could ever begin to imagine. So many things have happened in my life because of Max Evans.

To be fair, I'm alive because of Max Evans, but of course, that's where everything began. I was shot, and Max saved me, but from there, everything spiraled out of control, and for a long time, there wasn't anything I could do about it, well that's what I thought, anyhow.

From the time Max risked everything to save me, my life took a different path than the one I intended. My goals were always pretty straightforward. Graduate high school, go to Harvard and become a molecular biologist. After Max saved me, my goals changed to something far more simplistic. Survive, just stay alive.

Because of Max Evans, everything I always wanted for my life was tossed aside like some piece of worthless trash. Everything became about them, about him. Maybe that was as it should be, a fair exchange. He gave me a chance to live, and I gave up everything for him.

Because of Max Evans, my grades began to drop, and I began to get in trouble in school. I skipped classes; I skipped school. I walked out on my shifts at the CrashDown. I became a totally different person. Alex thought I was on drugs. Alex, I almost lost Alex as a friend because of Max Evans.

In the end, I did lose Alex, but I can't blame that entirely on Max. So many things happened so quickly. We were running all the time. Even though we never really left Roswell, we were still running. First we were running from the Sheriff, and then from the Special Unit. Then I was running, running from Max Evans. I was running because I loved him, but he was destined to be with another.

I tried. I really did try to give up Max, because I knew he belonged with Tess. His mother told me. He told me himself when he came back from the future. _Everything_ I did was because of Max Evans. But it always came back to my being with Max. Max became the end all and be all of my existence. I allowed that to happen. I allowed Max Evans and his problems to overtake my life. But really, how could I not? His problems all came about after he saved my life, or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

I felt so responsible, if he hadn't saved my life that day, none of this would have happened. I guess because he saved me, I felt obligated to save him. I know now that it doesn't work that way. What Max did was a selfless act of love. When I helped him at first, it wasn't out of love; it was more a sense of obligation. The love came later.

Because of Max Evans, I learned what love really was. Love wasn't the childhood crushes I had on movie stars and pop idols. It wasn't even the puppy love feelings I had for Kyle Valenti. Because of Max Evans, I learned about soul searing love and passion. I just wasn't equipped to deal with it. What teenager is?

Because of Max Evans, I had to grow up and face the world and learn to accept responsibility for my actions. I finally did just that. I decided it was time to stop blindly following Max. I needed to find my self, and learn who Liz Parker was before I could do anything else. I used to be an honor student, destined for Harvard. Then I was a love struck teen following Max. From there I moved on into an angry and rebellious person fighting to prove that my friend was murdered and did not commit suicide. From there, I became an almost felon. Who was I? I had no clue any longer.

I probably would have stayed in Roswell trying to figure everything out, but I couldn't, because of Max Evans. All those phases and changes I went through in the past two years were nothing. They were simply the precursor for the big change, the change that occurred because of Max Evans. Because when Max healed me, he changed me. I don't mean I became a better person. Obviously a person who robs a store at gunpoint is _not_ a better person. I mean he _changed_ me. I was developing powers, just like him. It was then that I knew I had to leave.

I left Roswell. I left my friends, my family, my job, my school, and the only life I'd ever known, but I left it to find myself. Because of Max Evans, I had a chance that very few people had. I had a chance to learn about the real me. I chose to learn about me at an exclusive all girls' boarding school in Vermont. It was an amazing experience for me. I fell in with the wrong crowd, and began drinking, and that was _not_ because of Max Evans. That was because of me, Liz Parker.

That's when I realized I always had the choice. I could follow Max blindly, or I could run away and try and hide from my life, or I could go back to Roswell, and live the life I was destined to have. Not trailing along, following Max, but standing beside him as my own person. Not a Harvard graduate or a molecular biologist. Those things weren't me, they were goals, they were dreams, but they weren't who I was, or who I could be. Now, I had a chance to be me, Liz Parker. I learned all of this, because of Max Evans.


End file.
